McCain Calls for Efforts to Curb Greenhouse Gases
Posted on: Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
Sen. John McCain sought to distance himself from President Bush on Monday as he called for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to combat climate change.
McCain, in a speech at a wind power company, also pledged to work with the European Union to diplomatically engage China and India, two of the world's biggest polluters, if the nations refuse to participate in an international agreement aimed at slowing global warming.
The prepared text of McCain's speech, e-mailed to reporters Sunday night and Monday morning, went so far as to call for punitive tariffs against China and India if they evaded international standards on emissions, but he omitted the threat in his delivered remarks. Aides said he had decided to soften his language because he thought he could be misinterpreted as being opposed to free trade.
"I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears," McCain said. "I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges."
The presumptive Republican president nominee renewed his support for a "cap-and-trade" system in which power plants and other polluters could meet limits on greenhouse gases by either reducing emissions on their own or buying credits from more efficient producers.
McCain's break with the Bush administration means that the three main presidential candidates have embraced swifter action on efforts to fight global warming.
The two Democrats seeking their party's presidential nomination, Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, criticized the McCain plan as too timid. Leaders of a number of environmental groups were also sharply critical.
Other environmental advocates praised McCain, who was among the first in Congress to introduce legislation to address the carbon emissions that scientists blame for the warming of the planet.
Source: Virginian - Pilot
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